Chapter Forty-One
“Balloon - a flexible bag designed to be inflated with hot air or with a gas, such as helium, that is lighter than the surrounding air, causing it to rise and float in the atmosphere.”
Charming
Not having a body was weird. I couldn’t really sit or stand…
or do anything other than sort of hover over the floor.
It was like existing but not existing. It made me think about Storm and I suddenly understood why he started trying to learn how to be more solid.
I understood why he figured out how to borrow other people’s bodies.
Because not having a shape of your own was like being caught between life and death.
It also had a way of making a man feel very small and very out of control.
And the more I concentrated, the harder it seemed to be.
The second I moved or tried to go across the room, my body kind of dissipated away from itself.
It didn’t hurt, but it was kind of alarming to watch what was left of you drift out and away.
After a while I was so frustrated that I gave up and settled for just kind of floating there.
I thought about Frankie, about what she was doing right then. If she was angry with me or if she was hurt. I wondered if she was eating a pound of candy and cursing the day I ever walked into her life. I hoped Storm was there by now. I hoped she at least knew I didn’t just abandon her.
Of its own accord, my form started drifting down, moving toward the floor. I tried not to get excited that I was going down instead of up. Figured the minute I stopped trying to do something was the minute my damn body did it.
I wished there was a clock in here. I wished I knew how long ago Storm had left. That’s the other thing about not having a body. There’s no internal clock to keep you posted on time.
“Hey,” Storm whispered, coming right through the wall beside me.
“Did you get to the bodies before he did?”
“Yeah. I brought yours with me. It’s outside in the trees that border his property. You might as well use it.”
“That’s one way to keep it on the move.”
“Yeah. But you gotta stay out of sight, man. For many obvious reasons, including the red ring you’ll be sporting.
I highly doubted I would be strolling down the street.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” I said, trying to rush toward the wall. I ended up going in the opposite direction with a trail of red following behind. I made a frustrated sound. “How in the hell do you control yourself?”
“It’s not that hard. You just have to concentrate.”
“All I’ve been doing is concentrating. My freaking brain hurts.” Wait. Did I even have a brain? Not having a body was so weird. I took a deep breath and tried again. I got the same results as before. A few colorful swear words slipped between my lips.
“I told you it wasn’t easy,” Storm said. “It’s a good thing I brought the body here.”
“Where was it anyway?”
“I stashed it at Frankie’s.”
“You stashed it at Frankie’s!” I growled, mad that he would involve her more than she already was.
“You said to put it somewhere it wouldn’t be found.”
The guy was an idiot. When I got my body back, I was going to deck him. Maybe she hadn’t seen it. I didn’t notice I was drifting down to the floor.
“She’s something else,” Storm said, watching me. “She didn’t even freak out when she found it.”
Well, shit. “She saw it,” I said, flat. Drifting even closer.
“Yeah, and I also sort of borrowed a body in front of her.”
Double shit. “Where is she now?” I growled, wondering how I was ever going to make this up to her. I wondered if I could. Then I noticed I was right beside Storm.
“I’m on the ground,” I said, shocked. I hadn’t even been trying. I was too busy wanting to deck him in the eye.
“Yeah, apparently pissing you off about your lady is like an anchor for you.”
Huh.
“You ready? We need to get your body out of the woods.”
“Let’s do this.”
Storm moved over toward the far wall. “This wall is an exterior wall. Once you’re through it, we’ll be outside. You’re not going to be able to blend into the shadows as good as me so once we’re out there, we gotta move fast. Just stick with me. Follow me.”
Yeah, moving fast was a lot better in theory. Trying to cram a body, or non-body as it was, through a wall and outside wasn’t exactly easy. It took me four tries to get half my body out of the house and then another three tries to get the rest out.
By the time I made it out and across the open yard and into the trees, I was pissed off and in a very foul mood. It didn’t help that I was staring down at my body—a body that was still kind of shocking to see. I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like to literally be back to my old self again.
“I swear the next time you get your ghost ass in a body, I’m going to give you a black eye.” I threatened Storm. Threatening him made me feel better. And it kept my anger at the surface, giving my body a little bit of weight. If I started flying up here, there would be no ceiling to catch me.
“Promises, promises,” Storm taunted. “Focus on the nose or the ears,” he instructed. “Aim for that and once you’re in, it will be a lot easier because it’ll be like going into a tunnel. There won’t be anywhere for your soul to go but inside.”
My feet (or what would be my feet) were already close to the ears of my body so instead of trying to bend down and go in headfirst, I kicked out my foot, aiming for the ear.
As I thought, some red went out and around the head, but some of it made it inside, creating a red trail leading inside and so I kicked again, shoving even more of myself in.
Then something happened.
Something I hadn’t expected.
It was almost like the inside of my body was a vacuum and I was being sucked up through the hose. “Storm,” I whispered, trying not to sound as freaked as I was. “It’s sucking me in.”
“Well, that’s a first,” he said, sounding a little surprised. It didn’t make me feel any better. “Just go with it. You want to get in there. This will just make it easier.”
And so I went (like I had a choice). My body seemed to know exactly what to do with my soul and I began to move faster and faster.
The body, which had been lying flat and lifeless on the ground, began to plump up and fill out.
It became less like a piece of clothing and more like a living, breathing man.
And then the red was gone.
I was completely inside a body I thought I would never be in again.
I stood up, looking down at my arms and legs, tossing the light-colored hair out of my eyes.
I wasn’t really sure how I felt in that moment.
I wanted to rush to a mirror, to look in and see if I recognized what I saw.
I wanted to stand there in the yard and take stock of every part of me—to know if I felt any different, or if I felt the same…
“Maybe it’s because it’s your body,” Storm was muttering to himself.
“What?”
“I was thinking that maybe the reason your soul went right in was because that was the body it actually belongs in.”
We didn’t have time for theories on bodies and souls.
“Let’s go to Frankie’s,” I said, my eyes darting around to make sure none of G.R.’s staff was lurking. “We can talk there.”
The silence that came from Storm was anything but silent.
“What?” I demanded.
“Well…” he began, drawing out the word. “There’s something about Frankie you should know.”
She didn’t want to see me again. She was pissed I left her, pissed Storm stashed a body at her house, and he didn’t want to tell me back there. “Just tell me.”
“When I was there getting the body,” he said, pausing.
“Spit it out already!” I barked.
“G.R. showed up,” he rushed out.
“What?!” If I hadn’t already been inside a body, I knew all the red that made up my soul would have scattered for miles. The thought of Frankie and G.R. in a room together made my skin crawl.
“He walked in like he owned the place.”
“How did you get him out of there?”
He didn’t say anything.
“Tell me you did not leave her there with him,” I ground out.
“We didn’t want him to find your body!”
Screw him not having a body. I reached out and punched the air where he floated. Then I stuck my other hand inside of him and shook it, scattering him all around.
“What the hell, man!”
“You deserve so much more than that,” I spat.
I didn’t even wait for him to reply or come back into some kind of shape.
I took off, racing along the edge of the neighbor’s property, drawing in every last ounce of kinetic energy I could and using it to propel me right out of the fancy neighborhood without being seen once.
I was supposed to be lying low, to not let G.R. know I was out, that I had a body.
Screw that.
He was messing with my girl.